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Chapter of the Week: #11 [Archive]
First, welcome Einstein...[cite] Einstein:[/cite].... How do Taoists view technology? .... Should I, for example, retire my microwave?
Taoists, at least this one, are more concerned with attitude than [chref=63]action[/chref], approach than accomplishment. Of course, this Taoist view falls a little flat in a world 'addicted' to [chref=41]accomplishing[/chref] its virtuous agendas.
Technology, whether it is a stone axe or your microwave, is technology. In and of itself, technology is neither helpful nor [chref=73]harmful[/chref]; these are generated by the user's attitude and approach. It is in our lunging and grasping that we shoot ourselves in the foot. Thus, [chref=46]contentment[/chref] lies more in [chref=40]turning back[/chref] than lunging forward. Turning back in attitude, not tossing out your microwave and returning to the cave.
Comments
Note: The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.
Chapter 11
Thirty spokes
Share one hub.
Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose in hand, and you will have the use of
the cart. Knead clay in order to make a vessel. Adapt the nothing therein to
the purpose in hand, and you will have the use of the vessel. Cut out doors
and windows in order to make a room. Adapt the nothing therein to the purpose
in hand, and you will have the use of the room.
Thus what we gain is Something, yet it is by virtue of Nothing that this can
be put to use.
This has to be the best kept secret around. Even telling it right out loud doesn't reveal it. This secret is only revealed when we [chref=70]understand [/chref] the virtue of Nothing - a secret only revealed in the eye of the beholder. We are instinctively set up to notice the Something's of existence - not the [chref=40]Nothing[/chref]. Yet, for example, it is Nothing (of hunger) that makes for food's best seasoning.
The Taoist view that [chref=2]Something and Nothing produce each other[/chref] would seem to give them equal weight, yet, here we see the edge goes to Nothing. And besides, Nothing correlates with eternity and mystery, where as Something correlates with temporary and obvious.
The virtue of Nothing is no where better experienced than in art. Not the objective end products of art - the Something's which end up in museum collections, but rather the subjective process of art. This mostly comes down to [chref=32]knowing when to stop[/chref], and [chref=16]holding firmly to stillness[/chref]. Of course, from this perspective, life itself is an art, the art of living. For me that has meant seeing 'it' as 'it' is, and with [chref=65]complete conformity[/chref] to 'it', I find balance. Now, a major part of this is seeing through the illusion of 'perfection', (i.e., 'mistakes' and 'perfection' [chref=2] follow each other, complement each other, and produce each other[/chref]). In other words, 'it' is not some Perfect Ideal which tends to jump instinctively to mind. Consider this:
[chref=41]The sheerest whiteness seems sullied;
Ample virtue seems defective;
Vigorous virtue seems indolent;
Plain virtue seems soiled; [/chref]
[chref=28]Keeping to the role of the disgraced[/chref] takes the idealistic struggle out of life and allows me to simply be an animal. Of course, I had to first [chref=36]set it up... stretch it... strengthen it...[/chref] many years before such weakness could find its way into my life. Heck, maybe it is just the falling testosterone levels that come with age....
Anyway, I find this [chref=64]journey[/chref] becomes easier as I heed the virtue of Nothing in my moment instead of looking to the next moment and beyond.
What this brings up in me is that according to physics, most of our physical universe is actually space. There is much much more space than matter in everything.
Also, regarding art, in paintings the spaces that are not painted, the 'negative space', are as important as the objects painted. In fact, it's fun to paint the space between the objects before painting the objects. Much the same, in music and in speech, the silences are important and help define the sound and make it pop.
I am struggling with this. Can you say more about it and how it relates to the virtue of nothing ?
However, if something and nothing produce each other, it follows that once you create yourself as nothing, something will be produced. What that something is depends on the individual and will come from the inner nature. So you never really live a life of nothing unless you cling to that something produced, because you now have something, and that produces nothing.
So, if you want nothing, get too proud of being nothing, which is something.